This invention relates to musical instruments, particularly acoustic stringed musical instruments.
The designers and builders of acoustic stringed musical instruments, such as acoustic guitars, have long faced a dilemma of trying to meet two competing objectives: acoustics and strength. The top or soundboard of the acoustic body must be, on the one hand, sufficiently light and flexible to resonate freely and produce a true tone, and on the other hand, it must also be sufficiently strong to hold the highly tensioned strings, as well as standing up to ordinary handling.
Conventionally, guitar makers have used a thin top material to obtain the acoustic objective, reinforcing it with braces to provide sufficient strength. Historically, the fan bracing configuration attributed to the Spanish guitar maker Torres was used on gut stringed instruments. The "X"-bracing configuration developed by the Martin Company in the mid-19th century has become the standard for over a hundred years, particularly for instruments equipped with steel strings, which exert considerably stronger forces than gut strings. Many variations of top bracing configurations have been tried by guitar makers to obtain an optimum of acoustic characteristics and strength. Generally speaking, better sounding guitars have thinner tops and less bracing, thus sacrificing strength. Such guitars tend to be more fragile and more susceptible to deformation of the top.
Another problem experienced by designers and builders of such instruments arises from the need to join the neck to the body. Considerable care is generally required in designing and constructing the joint, which is typically accomplished with a dove-tailed branch extending rearwardly from the neck which fits into the neck block of the body. Weakening of this joint causes the neck to deflect due to the oblique loading of the strings. In fact, fracture at the neck joint is also .a familiar problem with such instruments of conventional construction.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these and other disadvantages of known instruments.